Police Department launches community survey tool to measure public perceptions
The Fairfax County Police Department has launched a new program to gauge community perceptions about policing.
FCPD contracted with Zencity’s Blockwise program to place ads on social media and local news websites with a link to a brief survey about people’s perceptions of the police department, whether they feel their community is safe, and whether they trust the police.
To ensure the surveys incorporate voices from all parts of the county, including historically marginalized communities, Zencity sets response targets based on U.S. Census data.
The tool will enable the police department to holistically understand neighborhood safety issues and improve the FCPD’s responsiveness to residents’ priorities, said Police Chief Kevin Davis at a press briefing on June 5.
The survey responses are anonymous. A data portal is being developed to share the results with the public in real time.
“This effort represents a belief that we can only improve what is measured,” Davis said. “You cannot accurately measure the community’s feelings about a police department based on tweets, retweets, likes, and Facebook posts.”
“Community meetings and other engagement channels remain a vital part of who we are and what we do, and those will never go away,” he said. Using digital platforms will allow FCPD to reach people who don’t typically attend public meetings or have interactions with the police.
FCPD hosted or participated in 10 community events on Saturday, June 3, Davis noted. He went to three of them and interacted with dozens of people. But that’s a tiny number compared to the 1.2 million people who live in Fairfax County.
Michael Simon, Zencity’s chief strategy officer, said the Blockwise tool tracks public perception on three sets of key indicators:
- Fear of crime – Do residents feel safe in their neighborhood?
- Trust – No matter where they live in Fairfax County, will people call the police to report a crime?
- Priority – What do residents want policing to look like across the diverse communities in the county? How does policing differ from one neighborhood to another?
The ads will be available on such sites as Instagram, Facebook, and local media websites. They will appear in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Urdu, Telugu, and Amharic, as well as English. The ads will appear in the language a device is set to.
Other cities and counties that are using Blockwise found that not every area and not every demographic group is going to start at the same level, Simon said. Understanding that will allow FCPD to prioritize resources to certain areas and track that in real time to see if there are improvements in people’s attitudes.
Because the data is continuously collected and analyzed, “it’s more like a Fitbit than an annual physical,” Simon said.
So far, more than 200 people have taken the survey. From those results, “it seems what’s mostly on the minds of residents is quality of life issues,” Simon said. “A series of small things in a neighborhood can add up to people not feeling safe.”
FCPD is going to use the data “to make sure our strategies and resources match the expectations of our community.” Davis said. “If the feedback highlights a particular traffic safety issue, we’re going to respond to that. If burglaries or speeding are problems for residents, we can focus on those issues.”
“The public will be able to see the same data we’re seeing,” he said. “They won’t have to wait for an annual report.”
5 responses to “Police Department launches community survey tool to measure public perceptions”
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I was disappointed to see that the link to the survey was not on this article. I don’t usually respond to ads on social media because it is so difficult to cull the spam from real ads, so it is unlikely that I will click on their ad for the survey. If they want people to respond to the survey, put the link in sites and articles like this one. Otherwise, it looks like they are targeting certain people to respond to their survey.
Stupid survey. Just enforce the law. Of course people feel less safe. No, don’t treat neighborhoods differently or selectively enforce the law based on politics or skin color. No matter what the survey says, Steve Descano will do what he wants to do. There is significant evidence that Descano believes he is above the law. Stop selective enforcement and prosecution.
This isn’t really a survey. Surveys require a representative sample from a population so that conclusions can be made within an error range (oversimplification, but that’s essentially it). Posting a link to a set of questions so that you have no idea whether the responses represent the community may make for for politics as a sort of performance art, but that’s about all it is.
I’m not sure this is correct. You don’t actually know about the survey methodology w.r.t. to the controls or possible lack thereof that they use to validate the results. The amount of data that modern browsers and devices collect is stunning.
It’s possible that they are able to effectively fence out responses by people who don’t live in the area, or multiple responses by the same person, or to fence in responses from people who do live in the area, but for whatever reason respond from a device located 30 miles away.
I’m not saying they are, just that you don’t actually know they aren’t.
The company obviously doesn’t stay in business by providing bad results to idiot customers.
Also, this survey was commissioned by the police department. The police can do no wrong, and how dare you imply you know better, in regards to anything they do?
I totally agree with all 3 previous posts! Based on faulty methodology, the survey will be meaningless, but good for show and for some politicians, as Original Publius mentioned.